Amazon Echo and Echo Dot launching in the UK this month

Amazon is bringing its wireless
speaker/virtual assistant the Amazon Echo and its smaller, speaker-free
cousin the Amazon Dot over to the UK on September 28, complete with
region-specific services, features, and a new white finish. Both the
Echo and Dot are available to pre-order now for £150 and £50
respectively. Amazon Prime members will receive a £50 discount if they
pre-order the Echo within the next two days.

Amazon is also releasing the Echo and Dot in
Germany, on October 26, but on a limited invite-only basis. The Echo
costs €179, while the Dot costs €59. US folks haven't been left out
either, with the white version of the Echo and the Dot—at a lower $49
price no less—due for release soon. All regions will benefit from bulk
buying discounts: buy five Dots and get one free, or, if you're the
mansion-owning type, buy 10 Dots and get two free.

For uninitiated, the Amazon Echo
is both a wireless speaker and a virtual assistant called Alexa, which
uses Amazon's extensive cloud-based computing power to process voice
commands. At its simplest, the Echo can be used to play music from
services like Amazon Prime and Spotify by simply asking "Alexa" to play a
specific track. Since its launch in the US in 2014, Alexa's
functionality has expanded dramatically, from the ability to control 13
things with your voice to over 3000 according to Amazon, allowing users
to use the Echo to control everything from off-the-shelf smart light
bulbs like Philips Hue through to homebrew DIY projects.

Rather than just bring the US version of the
Echo over to the UK and Germany and call it a day, Amazon's Cambridge
R&D outfit has localised the device, incorporating country-specific
idioms and services. For starters, Alexa now has a pleasing UK accent,
and, if you do happen to ask her how to spell the word "colour," she
will do so with that all-important (and absolutely correct) "u" in
place. Measures have been corrected for the UK too, so asking Alexa how
many litres are in a pint will use the UK definition, rather than the
smaller American abomination.

The Amazon Echo will comes in both white and black colours.

The Amazon Echo Dot in its new fetching white guise.

Like the Dot? Buy a 12-pack!

Services from the likes of Sky Sports, Uber,
Spotify, TuneIn Radio, The Guardian, and Sky Scanner, are included in
the UK version, while Germans can make use of the likes of Spiegel
Online, Tor Alarm, and MyTaxi. In a demo, Amazon showed Alexa responding
to a question about current headlines by playing a short audio clip
from Sky News, while another question about train times used data from
National Rail to have Alexa read out current delays to the service. In
theory, Alexa will recognise sports idioms too, like recognising "Spurs"
means Tottenham Hotspur.

Alexa will also dig into a database of Jamie
Oliver recipes if you're stuck for something to cook, or, if you're
feeling lazy, will let you order directly from delivery service Just
Eat. Alexa will even recognise the setup to the parrot sketch from Monty Python and play it out with you—because if you're British, you have to like Monty Python. The
Echo gains a few new country-specific smart home services too,
including British Gas' Hive thermostat (as a Hive user myself, this is
fantastic news given few other smart devices have integrated support),
while German users can control Netamo and Tado.

More services are due in the future—including a
partnership with BMW that will allow users to lock and unlock their
cars remotely—but enterprising individuals can download a free SDK to
create their own customised services for the Echo. Amazon showed a few
YouTube clips of some user-created services, including an automated
drinks mixer that appeared to pour a mean negroni on command.

If you like the idea of the Echo, but would
rather use your own speakers, the £49 Dot is ideal. It has all the same
beam-forming voice recognition tech as the Echo, but features a
bluetooth connection and line-out jack that allows you to connect it the
audio device of your choice. It will also extend the listening range of
the Echo, which is particularly useful if you live in a large house.

As someone that's been chasing the smart home dream
for some time, I'm especially excited by the potential of the Amazon
Echo. It might be an even better unifying solution than Logitech's
Harmony Elite remote, particularly as voice commands are much more
natural and quicker than swiping through a touch screen. I'm going to
work through the logistics and hopefully bring you a full run through of
my setup working with the Echo soon.